many question the sudden resignation of pope benedict the sixteenth as shock waves reverberate throughout the catholic world. french forces reclaim the city of we bring you a firsthand account from the city after a surprise attack by militants all that spalls french claims of every tourist campaign. and seventeen coal miners die in an underground of the famed blast in russia's called me republic with rescuers still looking for one possible survivor.

from our new center here in moscow this is our team with the on line on the screen twenty four hours a day the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february the twenty eighth citing old age eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries all of the reports now from the birthplace of the pope in germany. well it's described by one cardinal as a lightning bolt from a clear blue sky it certainly caught some of benedict's most senior advisers on the hope his spokes person said that it had been left frankly flabbergasted by the news that the pope will be stepping down at the end of the month now benedict is eighty

five years old obviously not a young man but the cardinals knew that when they elected him and he was supposed to be there for a lot longer than this i think they would have thought it's not unprecedented but it's not really done that often in fact the last time a pope stepped down was six hundred years ago it's certainly not been an easy ride it's not been the longest papacy just under eight years but in that time is certainly being plenty of drama no nice includes one of the one of the reasons that benedict said that he has to step down as he thought his age and made him physically and in some cases mentally unable to deal with the everyday life of being the pope in the modern world one of the series of scandals that we've seen involve the so-called vatileaks similar to wiki leaks a series of documents that were distributed online but which well apparently showed a c.v. a series of shady dealings done by the vatican this type of thing of course not

something your average eighty five year old has to deal with but they include some quite serious allegations including the fact that the vatican colluded with silvio berlusconi's government in italy to try and get pressure taken off the church of rome for paying taxes on properties which it owned and that there is also a list that was published of well less than savory clients for the vatican bank which included some people alleged to be sicilian mafia bosses and of course one of the major scandals that is will be remembered for benedict's papacy concerns child abuse now in his previous. this job before he became pope he was essentially regarded as the john paul of seconds papal bulldog he was the defender of the doctrine of fair for faith. in what role he is accused of covering up sexual abuse scandals all around the world but also here in germany invite in

recent times there's been further controversy over this the church here in germany canceled an investigation into child abuses that ranged back to the 1940's and stop that investigation apparently according to the man who was conducting it because they weren't happy with what would be made public so there's certainly been controversy and it will be something that's picked over for a long time to come after benedict steps down at the end of this month or is interested in your thoughts on current issues and we're asking you to cast your vote on our website on dot com and we can have a look on screen and see what you think so far about what's concerning the developments around pope benedict's resignation well for most of those who took part in the poll it really will make no difference as the vatican will be corrupt on the any leadership we can see about twenty percent of you say that the stepping down will soon be forgotten when a new paper pope takes over and just under ten percent see this is

a way for the holy see to move past the scandals and allegations which have played to the vatican and a small portion of the so far forecasts a successor crisis for the catholic church could hear from him would have to do is log on to r.t. dot com and have your say. the director of the national secular society keith porter goss wood says there's more to the official explanation of the pope's resignation. i think the dark triangle side has been an absolute catastrophe for the church it's actually lost. its authority in many parts of the world when you say that you're going to. oppose politicians trying to bring in say same sex marriage

laws and you invest or your authority on that and then you loose as if as effectively happened in those important catholic countries like spain portugal brazil. and about to happen indeed in england and scotland in france then you actually lose the your authority it's more than just losing the fight so that's been a catastrophe for the church and church attendance has declined it in amazing rate and i think the child abuse scandal has been something that. benedict has never recovered from he's been involved in it personally through the c.d.f. prefecture for twenty five years and in fact he's brought more into the vatican and tried to to cover it up more and more and more so i think his his papacy will be seen as a major setback and

a very bad papacy for the church. and now we can talk to religious commentator dr jenny taylor from the media center for religious affairs joining us there in the u.k. despite it being normal practice pope's the succeeded on their death this man is eighty five years old which is well past the retirement age of most people are you surprised at the element of shock express around the world due to his resignation. i'm not sure that there is shock i think there is surprise but i think the element of shock is something that's being whipped up as usual by the media who i'm very pleased to say interested in a very serious religious issue i don't think it's a shock i think it's as i say i think it surprises why is it a surprise. to me most is because only two pope's in history i gather have actually resigned rather than. either being bumped off or waiting it

out until they die and i think he has made an extremely pragmatic and practical and courageous and selfless decision and i think all those things are very characteristic of the man and i think we should welcome it is really more to the official explanation of his resignation had been earlier reports of course of him intending to resign before this there was strongly denied by the vatican could have been perhaps forestalled by some sort of power behind the scenes. no absolutely not i think that he is a man who is extremely concerned about what he calls the new evangelization of europe and the issues that are now confronting the church and i think rather than the t.v. perpetuating images of. a declining human being being read as the decline of the church while he's still vigorous while he's still mentally and all his faculties he wants to be able to hand over to somebody who can really get a grip on the huge issues now confronting not just the church but the world the

church influences so profoundly well so i see this is deeply practical and pragmatic. and i'm not a conspiracy theorist where the vatican instance and some say he failed to get a grip on all those issues maybe the pressure of the so-called vatileaks the sexual abuse the banking corruption scandals someone. some will say he actually tried to resolve those numerous issues but actually failed and the pressure was too much well he's only been pope seven years and before that he was enormously busy saving up and credible intellectual response to secularize ation don't forget that the church was coping with marxism up until really very recently and now socialism is absolutely a busted flush and it's time to rethink the return of god if you like into the public square and ratzinger as he was has been profoundly important in the recovery

of the sense of the beauty and also really support himself and i think we've got to actually look at the man and see what he was as a christian rather. a political we've got to start reading religiously rather than politically for a change and looking at his legacy what about his successor what are the challenges facing his successor and who could it be. well my hope is that it's not another european because i think that a prophet is without honor in his country and i think therefore i would look to china or possibly garner for a new install pope and somebody who can really speak professor into the european situation and gain a hearing much in the same way that bishop michael meyers or ali or archbishop sentiment have gained a hearing from being other from being outside our own very narrow euro centrism i

think the principal challenge will be secularism secondly i think that the next challenge will be gender not just sexuality but actually the blurring the distinction between male and female i think this has the profoundest ramifications on the whole world so it will need a various do you think to be able to create these things really good to hear your thoughts we appreciate your time thank you for joining us live here in our three doctor journey live in london thank you. thank you. french and malian troops have regained control of go off to islam with militants launch a surprise attack on what is northern mali is most populous city authorities say three civilians were killed during sunday's fighting this comes after a recent claims by france of the military campaign is almost complete and as local correspondent gonzalo want to report the joint forces are struggling to fully secure the region still occupied by insurgents. the situation in mali is obviously

going to have gruesome and the need there are more than enough indications of last friday the country was shaken by the very personal terrorist attack and its history but the boarding to the witness report of what it was carried out by a fifteen year old suicide bomber in that arab descent the bomber was the only one killed after the detonation a few hours later responsibility for the attack was claimed by the mosher wod jihadists one thing to remember here is that this is a vast desert territory and therefore it is very difficult to control this attack is just another example confirming that despite the news reports of the french army having taken over gal timbuktu into doubt there is still a long way to go before jihadists are ousted from the country at least in severe artie's crew was given access to the civil defense camps where volunteers and civilians are preparing to fight against the jihadists the f.l.n. a and gondokoro a local government a militia movement that account for

a total of two thousand eight hundred operatives but do not support the strategy chosen by the french in mali and joining forces in fighting the terrorists in completely the same goals but what they did was a really bad service to us there was no really about the army itself al qaeda had been operating on mali and territory for a number of years now they have all that and they keep getting more by kidnapping white people for rounds of insurance pays them to have their citizens returned and then the terrorists have cash to buy weapons and if we talk about al qaeda there's no way the army can fight it because that she it's terrorism in action going to find out is that those paramilitary who know the terrain well say fighting a war they cannot take part in is meaningless one thing all these paramilitary groups have in common is their patriotism and zeal to protect their country and drive away the narco terrorists but this is a losing fight given the financial resources and ammunition stock they have. put out. but i'm ready to go it's all lengths i'm raised to give my life right now to

save my family out there in the north because we're all here have families i believe france will still need to tax for a while when the french troops leave they will start all over again because the criminals are still out there hygiene them on the civilians and all of them have been caught really need to be given the mandate to complete this mission our own we're ready for it only we can do it because we grew up in the north we know the terrain and the people so we're the only ones who can stop them and find them in the villages and the desert where we know every corner and every paunch of land. over all while the jihad is forces are taking over their land kidnapping people and using suicide bombers to fight for their cause the civilian population remains the country's most vulnerable what route. they still have to the death of a dead financial worries make suicide rates rates sharply in the u.k. a student leaves his final words on a bank statement sort of a worrying trend of the deadly impact of money troubles

a report on that for you is just ahead this hour. plus we explain why environmentalists in ukraine are outraged by the authorities decision to go ahead with a multi-billion dollar gas project that story and plenty of all this in a few minutes right. more news today volumes. these are the images.

from the streets of canada. to build a. mission to teach. the seventeen people have been killed. that's according to. a one person is still missing the eight hundred meters below the surface well more

than two hundred fifty. at least two hundred forty two people have been evacuated from the mine immediately after the explosion that is the safety that created at one point there were several people who were missing looks like most of them have been recovered unfortunately did i didn't that we also know that immediately already a program has been set up in order to help financially the families of those looking of lost their relatives in the blast and that's a compensation should be in the amount of about two million dollars of that is roughly six to six thousand dollars really limited because of the blast to the gas explosion and in the mine you have to mention here that there has been no fire immediately following the blast and that could be said to be a fortunate thing because otherwise of course we'd be looking at a death toll would be significantly higher there has been a criminal case launched also into the possible breach of security measures at

the mine blast this is this is looking like the biggest in terms of death toll. mining accident over the past year and russia. suicide rates are soaring in the u.k. with money worries pushing many over the const to mental health services and aggressive debt collecting assaulted by experts as major factors aggravating the situation. one mother who lost her child to despair for the last year and a half and thorn has been coming to terms with the tragic death of her son aged just twenty three toby took his own life riding his spinal words on the back of a bank statement after racking up a three thousand pound overdraft and a five thousand pounds student debt it was just the shock it wasn't from one but had a history of depression or mental illness or even had come across as being down or depressed. you know in the last few weeks months of his life if anything he came

across the someone you know didn't have a care in the world following his death and became a trustee for the charity piracy which aims to prevent suicide among young people from a home in cornwall she even runs her own blog giving advice but it's a battle her charity and similar ones around the u.k. are struggling to win suicide is on the increase according to latest figures accounting for six thousand deaths between twenty ten and twenty eleven a rise of seven percent so why the increase while an inquest ruled that toby's financial problems working for a factor to his suicide experts now say that amazing u.k. economy is partly to blame for the recent deaths nationwide areas of high unemployment such as camden here in london are among those worst affected and it's a problem compounded by cutbacks in mental health services the double whammy effect of the recession is that people are becoming more distressed more anxious and

therefore more at risk of wanting to take their own lives at the same time whether sterrett and cuts means that we have fewer psychiatric beds that the crisis care isn't there and if that isn't enough the growth of same day loan companies and intimidating debt collectors are adding to the pressures people are feeling according to researchers brighton university we have some very very good regulations that protect people look at things problematic debt collection however it appears that particularly well it's because these practices are still. in response the u.k. government has announced plans to crack down on aggressive bailiff's from next year late night visits will not be allowed and restrictions will be put on what property can be ceased they are also spending over a million pounds on research as part of a suicide strategy plan. but that is only one very small step in the right

direction for someone like there's no easy answer i mean one thing i've learned more about thirty five than i ever wanted to know but i've done a lot of reading and research and it's strangely complex hopefully entirely the trend will go down when we need to be. andrew farmer from london and just remind you we have more stories and great pictures for you no website r.t. dot com is online all the time here's a quick glimpse but we've got there for you at the moment u.s. president barack obama except to restart a key focus of his politics nuclear weapons production possibly tempting russia with a potential big money saving more on our website. so that you know for sure what you'll be doing tomorrow if not in the u.s. defense john may be able to help predict your future steps and even behavior just by collecting social network data find out more about that online.

with ukraine refused to pay russian gas giant gazprom the recent seven billion dollar gas bill authorities in kiev working on enlisting western companies to explore its shale gas reserves were the controversial method proposed to boost the country's coffers isn't going down well with environmentalists artie's alexia chef skeet has this report. it was described as the day of ukraine's energy independence what in november last year he signed a one billion dollar agreement with a spanish utility to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the black sea coast delight quickly turned into dismay when it emerged that the man signing the deal had nothing to do with the company three months later ukraine's need is where shaking hands again this time with boiled dutch shell having signed a real deal to explore and develop the country potentially he would shale gas reserves reportedly the third largest in europe for. the

expectation is about eight to ten billion cubic meters of gas production per year and the highest is up to about twenty two twenty five once it's operational we will strive to fully meet our domestic energy needs and to even become an exporter. this is definitely sweet music to see for years ukraine has been striving to reduce its reliance on the strong russia especially now when gas. was seven billion dollars for violating gas agreements this project is definitely good we would pay between one hundred fifty to one hundred eight dollars per cubic meter of gas and four hundred fifty dollars we're now paying to gas probably but if everything is so promising why are people out in force against the shale gas initiative. the second should know if not worse for years ukraine has often been divided on many different

issues from perception of history to the official number of state languages and then you shale gas initiatives are no exception if political enemies hardline nationalists and communists have put their differences aside and spoken out against . the opposition even proposed a bill prohibiting the exploration and extraction of shale gas and that's a real question of information on how to get between. it is still a lot of. companies don't know if you're going to be to be environment but political battles of. the show. were full of feet but whenever they speak the pro-government media labels them as agents. usually and different camera angles that extract more gas from the rocks so the underground system which provides fresh drinking water is completely

destroyed if there's water resistant to ecological resource and when one spoil it the area becomes practically non-viable. but even in the most optimistic scenario ukraine may see its own shale gas killing its pipes only in a decade from now coal egyptians they're not against shale gas principle just that the potential environmental impact from its action needs to be researched and assessed before drilling begins they have already sent a letter to the president the question is whether those at the top will be willing to listen let's see russia. reporting from. ukraine. the business use is coming your way very shortly but first let's check out some other stories from around the world in our world update at least ten people have reportedly been killed and dozens injured all for a car bomb exploded at a crossing on the syrian border explosives were reportedly packed into a car carrying humanitarian aid most of those killed are said to be syrian

nationals dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene here has been a focus of violence in the almost two year long battle between syrian rebels and government forces. the government an opposition and the rain that launched a new round of reconciliation talks the first such meeting in two years a political crisis reform campaign is according on the government to deal with police brutality and perceived discrimination meanwhile the opposition is called. intentions of the talk saying that just a bluff to calm the unrest activists say there's too much power concentrated in the hands of the sunny. well sort of what are they this are two women being killed in a shooting in a courthouse in the u.s. state of delaware the attacker entered the lobby of the building and fired at least five shots before being killed by police one of the victims is thought to be the strange wife of the attacker two police officers were also wounded the identity of this expected shooter remains unclear. and in an official resigned the

following a deadly stampede at a roll way station that killed thirty six hindu pilgrims incident reportedly occurred after roadway officials announced a last minute change of platform tens of millions gathered on the banks of the ganges river to take it did marking the. religious festival that's held every twelve years. about with a new city with more than about half an hour from now in the meantime as promised the business program is coming up next with the latest financial headlines stay with us for that if you care. this is to get rid of. but it's also a treasure. worth fighting for. and a trap was no way i.

speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's what you hear on all t.v. reporting from the world talks that feel like peace into intrigue you can still. tell you. arabic to find out more visit arabic don't teach. it to business telling a has made for all the us to become the world's biggest trading nation bringing in

the us is post-war dominance official figures from both countries a sum of exports and imports of goods show that china is fifty billion dollars to help out but how does this actually change china's position in terms of not just trade but political influence site from all the soffit come face to say i'm joined by legendary investor jim rogers so highlight ca. tell me how this is actually changed things and we know china's economy has been booming for the last three decades but does this mean more powell on a global scale. does katie i mean when you go business. they want to be part of the nation china is that largest one of the you know because this thing by that time to should perhaps get involved in a new global organization is not of that has the state. already getting more

involved if you look at your own. self. involved godfather. they have often talked martin frost.